Jim Reeves

Musician · 1923–1964 · Galloway, Texas
Best known for Songwriter Lead Vocals

Jim Reeves was a Texas country singer whose intimate, lower-register vocal style on “Four Walls” (1957) and “He’ll Have to Go” (1960) helped define the Nashville Sound and made him a global country star in his lifetime. He died in a 1964 plane crash at age 40; his catalog continued to chart in country and pop for decades afterward.

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  • Born James Travis Reeves on August 20, 1923, in Galloway, Texas, near Carthage in the East Texas piney woods.
  • Signed to RCA Victor in 1955 and to Chet Atkins’s Nashville production roster.
  • Pioneered the close-mic, lower-register crooning style that became central to the Nashville Sound on his 1957 single “Four Walls”; the record reached No. 1 country and No. 12 pop.
  • “He’ll Have to Go” (1959–60) reached No. 1 country, sold more than a million copies, and topped charts in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and elsewhere.
  • Known to fans as “Gentleman Jim”; toured widely across Europe, Africa, and Asia.
  • Killed with pianist Dean Manuel on July 31, 1964, when his private plane crashed in heavy rain near Brentwood, Tennessee.
  • Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1967.

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